


You Might Be The One Who's Runnin' Things

by Rine3195



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, StarKid Productions RPF, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Autistic Hannah Foster, Autistic Paul Matthews, Multi, Nonbinary Ethan Green, Once again it's my brand jroejdoi2efj
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:21:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24639079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rine3195/pseuds/Rine3195
Summary: Lex becomes the president of the PTA. It goes.... fairly well?Feat. Everyone
Relationships: Becky Barnes/Tom Houston, Lex Foster/Ethan Green, Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins, Xander Lee/John McNamara
Comments: 22
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

Lex Foster was driving to Hatchetfield Secondary School, trying desperately to keep calm. She was failing miserably. Today was Hannah's first day of middle school, and she was probably more stressed than Hannah about it. Hatchetfield was a new place for all of them, having been skipping around from town to town for a long time. Hannah got very uncomfortable quickly around noise, lights, people talking to her, basically everything that came from going to school. Her mom hadn't come home, off who knows where taking who knows what. She was white-knuckled, clutching the steering wheel with both hands. Lex loosened her grip and took a deep breath. _Everything is going to be fine_ , she told herself. _You talked with Mrs. Mills and she said everything was going to be okay. She said she'd look out for Hannah. You can trust a teacher._ Her grip loosened and she smiled to herself. She pulled into the drop-off/pick-up area and parked. She scanned the outside area, but didn't see Hannah. Lex got out of the car and walked up to the front, trying silently not to panic. That's when she was almost knocked backwards by a hug. It was Hannah. Thankfully, Hannah didn't seem to be unhappy. On the contrary, she was smiling so widely Lex was certain she was going to burst.

"Hey Banana! How was your first day of third grade?"

"It was good! I made a friend! His name is Tim and he likes snakes!"

Lex grinned to herself. Hannah loved all kinds of creepy crawlies, especially spiders. If this Tim really did like snakes, he was going to get along great with Hannah. "That's great, Banana! Is Tim out here with you?"

"No, he takes the bus home. Can I take the bus too?"

As Lex tried to figure out how to gently explain to Hannah why that was a terrible idea, especially because of her sensory problems, while also letting her down easy, she noticed another teen. That was strange. Almost all the other pickups had been with older white ladies. This kid definitely didn't fit in. He was wearing a silver studded leather jacket and a plaid shirt tied around his waist like a skirt. It sounded weird, but looked really good on him. He was tapping his foot and looking around anxiously. 

"Hey, Hannah, is it okay if I go talk to that guy for a bit? You can come if you want."

Hannah smiled and nodded. She really was in a good mood, which was always great. Whenever Hannah was in a good mood, Lex's spirits lifted as well. She walked over to the other teen, who looked familiar, but she couldn't place him whatsoever. He glanced up and looked at her. " Hey, you're Lex Foster, right?"

"Um, yeah. How do you-"

"I saw you in Mr. Houston's shop class. You're really good with cars." The boy offered her a small, hesitant smile.

Lex smiled back, kind of awestruck. "Well, now that you've told me that, I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know your name!"

"Ethan. Ethan Green. Don't worry about it, I didn't volunteer much in class anyways. I'm way back in the left corner of the classroom." He pushed his hair back. It was short and dark and curly and she wanted to run her fingers through it-

Whoa, where did _that_ come from?

She pushed her thoughts out of her head. "You're picking someone up too?"

"Yep. My cousin Oliver. He's a good kid, just a bit scatterbrained. I'm honestly this close to going in there and making sure he's okay."

Just then, a kid wearing suspenders and spectacles too big for his face came rushing towards them. 

"Jesus, Ollie, where ya been? Had me worried there!" Ethan said, hugging him. His tone was light, but Lex could see sheer relief in his face. She knew the expression well, having worn it multiple times.

"I'm sorry! I just was talking to Grace about ghosts. I lost track of the time, I guess."

"Kid, we're gonna need to work on your time management." Ethan let go and turned back to Lex. "Well, I probably should-"

"Sorry to interrupt. Do you know why all the moms are going inside?" Lex said, pointing at the front of the school.

Ethan squinted. "Got no idea. Why?"

"Well, if it's important, then I don't wanna miss it. My mom, uh, can't go to stuff like that." Lex said, twisting her hair and hoping she hadn't given away too much. 

Ethan's face cleared. "Same here. Maybe you should go in."

"Will you?" Lex asked, secretly hoping he would say yes.

Unfortunately, the universe hated her. "Well, I'd love to spend more time with someone as lovely as you-" _FUCK_ Lex was totally a goner. "But his mom never mentioned anything to me about an important parent or guardian meeting on the first day of school, and I'm not a fan of all the suburban white moms, so I'm gonna pass."

"Fair. Hey, I know we kind of just met for real, but I'm gonna ask you to do me a solid and look after my kid sister while I go check this shit out. Please? If you can't, that's fine, it's just-"

"No no, don't worry! Ollie and I don't really wanna go home anyways," Ethan whispered, glancing over at Oliver, who shook his head. "Yeah, it'll be fine."

Lex sighed in relief. "God, thank you, Ethan. I'll promise I'll make it up to you."

Ethan smiled at her. "It's fine, Lex. I'm happy to help."

Lex swooned internally. "Hannah loves to talk about spiders. She says some weird stuff sometimes, but ignore it and you should be okay. Hannah," she said, turning to Hannah, who was chewing on her fingernails. "Don't do that, first of all," she said, tugging Hannah's hands away from her mouth. "You're gonna stay here with Ethan, okay? I'm gonna go inside and see what's happening."

Hannah looked hesitantly at Ethan, but thankfully, she started to nod. "Webby says he's good."

"Cool! If Webby trusts him, so do I and so should you. It's her imaginary friend," she whispered as an aside to Ethan. "You guys talk. Ethan, I really can't thank you enough," Lex said, smoothing her hair down and trying to look somewhat presentable as Hannah sat down next to Oliver slowly.

"Like I said, no problem. Go in there and kick some suburban ass!"

Lex grinned at him and walked inside the school.

Little did she know, that action was going to change her life, for better and for worse.


	2. Chapter 2

Lex followed the way she'd seen the other parents go. They were gathering in a small meeting room, so she walked in and scanned the room, looking for familiar and/or friendly faces. Unfortunately, she didn't see anyone she knew. Lex spotted an empty seat between two other people so she went over and sat down. On her left sat a woman wearing a light blue sweater and purple skirt. She was young, but had lines of worry etched into her face, making her appear older. She was smiling nervously and kept fiddling with her lanyard, which had a staff badge on it. _A teacher_ , Lex thought. To her right was another young man. He was reclining back in his seat and looked bored. He had dark, slicked back hair and wore a denim shirt with denim jeans. It looked very strange, but she had to admit he wore it well. Lex took a few more glances around the table, seeing a young white guy in a business suit who looked super uncomfortable and kept tapping his hands on the table, an older woman with shockingly red hair wearing scrubs, and a handsome man with close cropped dark hair looking around with a polite expression on his face. At the head of the conference table was a short woman with long blond hair wearing a CAPE of all things. The lady had an expression of confidence on her face, of cockiness. Lex hated her already. Sitting to the woman's right was a young lady with a staff lanyard. She looked exhausted, and had a pen and paper in front of her.

"Well!" barked the woman at the end of the table. "Now that I believe everyone is here, we can begin! Welcome to another school year! I'm Linda Monroe, president of the PTA-"

"You're actually not, technically," murmured the tired-looking woman, rolling her eyes. "We're having elections today." 

Linda laughed, but Lex could totally tell it was fake. _Fake as that nose on her face_ , thought Lex. She frowned at herself. She was never this catty. 

"And this budding comedian is our dear Emma! She is our secretary-"

"Technically not," mumbled Emma.

"And she loves making jokes like that! You'll get used to them, everyone has to!" Linda chuckled, but quickly stopped when she realized no one was laughing with her. "Ahem. Why don't you stand up and introduce yourself, dear?"

"Well, you just did it for me, so why would I bother?" Emma snarked, not looking up from her paper.

Everyone laughed quietly, but quickly stopped when they noticed Linda glaring. She gave another fake laugh and continued. "Right. Well-"

The white guy whispered out loud, "I thought it was funny."

"And to our next new member!" Linda interjected. Lex did see Emma give him a small smile. "Why don't you stand up and introduce yourself?"

The guy's face became panicked. "Um, I'd rather not."

"Nonsense! Come on, don't be shy!" Linda said, grinning wolfishly. 

Lex felt bad for the guy. He was clearly socially awkward and nervous. But, like a champ, he stood up shakily. "Uh, okay. Hi, I'm Paul Matthews. Um, okay. Uh," he said, looking around the table and tapping his hands on the sides of his legs.

Emma, clearly feeling bad for the guy, asked, "Who's your kid?" clearly trying to give him a topic to go off of.

"Well, technically, um. I don't have a kid that goes here. I'm, uh, filling in for Bill? Bill Lake? His daughter is Alice?"

There were nods, hums of acknowledgement. Paul glanced around the table awkwardly. "Can I sit down now, please?" he mumbled.

"Go ahead," said Emma, cutting over Linda's protests.

Paul looked relieved. Emma awkwardly patted his shoulder as he sank down in his chair.

"Becky Barnes!" declared Linda, making almost everyone jump. The woman with vibrant red hair winced. "Introduce yourself to the new members, please?"

Becky smiled nervously and stood up. "Hello, I'm Becky Barnes. Um, I work as a nurse at Hatchetfield Hospital. My kid's Tim Houston, in the third grade."

Everyone smiled politely. Lex liked her. She seemed nice, if a bit shy. But Linda of course had something to add. 

"You know, I thought that you went to medical school. Why would you go through all that trouble and only become a nurse?"

There was a loaded silence. Becky looked down at the table, embarrassed. When she spoke up again, her voice was as heavy as lead. "Linda, you know perfectly why-"

"I mean, that just _sounds_ like laziness to me!"

Emma's jaw dropped. Becky's face was bright red, bordering on purple. Lex had no idea what was going on, but it sounded like Linda was being a bitch again. Something had happened to make Becky not finish medical school, and it was obviously a touchy subject. Lex hated her even more. 

The woman on her left introduced herself. She was a fifth grade teacher named Charlotte Lowery. Her husband was the chief of police, Sam Lowery. Everyone nodded politely. Linda, thank whatever god was out there, had nothing else to add. 

Then, all eyes turned to her. Shit.

There was an awkward silence, where everyone was looking at her with shock. Linda finally broke it.

"Well!" she declared, trying to keep her tone light and airy and failing miserably. "Why doesn't our newest and youngest member stand up and introduce herself?"

Lex winced, but stood up. She looked for a friendly face to look at but couldn't find anyone. Even Becky, who was clearly trying, looked concerned and Lex really couldn't deal with sympathy. She looked over all their heads, focusing on a clock on one of the walls.

"Hi," she said, wishing her voice didn't shake that much. "I'm Lex Foster. My _sister_ , Hannah, is in the third grade. I just came in here because my mom couldn't, um. Pick my sister up, and I figured that I'd come here and make sure this wasn't important." 

Everyone hummed in acknowledgement. Lex smiled awkwardly. Then, Linda cleared her throat.

"Well, it's always nice to see young people helping around the house! God knows my kids don't do a single thing! Hah." she laughed with no humor in her tone.

Lex felt her blood boiling. She wanted to stand up and scream. She wasn't doing it by choice. They were jumping from town to town because of her mother. Her mother, who couldn't get out of bed half of the time and could barely hold down a job. Her mother, who should be here at this meeting. Her mother, who didn't act one bit like one. Lex worked her ass off to care for her sister and at some point she was going to need a job. She looked down and realized her hands were shaking. Charlotte patted her shoulder gently and Lex smiled, whispering a thank you. 

"And our final new member! Please, stand up!"

The handsome guy stood up. He smiled politely. "Hello! I'm Doctor Xander Lee-McNamara. I'm the new physics professor at Hatchetfield Community College. My kid is Grace Lee-McNamara."

Everyone nodded and smiled. Linda, however, was frowning. "Why do you have a hyphenated last name? Didn't your wife take your last name?"

Xander chuckled awkwardly. "Well, my _husband_ wanted to keep his name, and so did I, so we ended up-"

"Husband?"

Emma cussed under her breath and Charlotte looked nervous.

"Linda, don't-" protested Becky.

"Where's the mother?"

"Um, we adopted, so I have no idea where-"

"That poor girl is going to grow up without a mother? That's so sad!"

There was dead silence. Lex could feel a scream building in her throat. She was clenching her hands into fists and releasing them slowly, a tactic to relieve anger she'd read about.

There was a movement at the front of the table, and Paul slowly raised his hand. "Um, Linda? That sounded absolutely homophobic." Lex was really starting to like this seemingly bland white guy.

"Oh, no!" protested Linda, looking around the table for support. "No, I'm not. I just think that every young girl needs a mother figure in her life, don't you?"

Xander laughed in disbelief. "Lady, you do not wanna start that shit with me."

"Don't get defensive with me! I'm just-"

"Hey! Linda!" yelled the guy sitting next to Lex. He'd been so quiet she'd almost forgotten he was there. But he looked pissed.

"What do you want now, Wilbur?" snapped Linda.

"You know, I could make jabs about your ugly as shit hair color that I _know_ is totally fake. I could make fun of your terrible nose job. I could poke at all of your open wounds, and God knows I know where every. Single. One of them is, but I'm not going to because _I don't suck._ Leave these people alone, sit down and shut the fuck up!"

Lex couldn't help but laugh out loud at the stunned expression on Linda's face. However, she quickly regained control of her face and went back to the regal, snotty expression quickly. "And our final member! Why don't you stand up and introduce yourself instead of passive-aggressively insulting me?"

"Fine, I will." The man stood up. "Hello everybody! I'm Wilbur Cross! I work as a logistician at Toyzone. I was the vice-president of this hell, but then Linda here realized I could talk back and promoted Becky instead of me! No offense, Becky, I hold no grudges against you. Linda, you’re another story. My kid is Will, he's in the third grade, and he's a bastard but I love him anyways. I think that's it!"

Everyone laughed as Wilbur sat down. Lex liked him already. The look on Linda’s face was something she was going to treasure for years. She saw Xander mouth a _thank you_ to Wilbur, and he shrugged and mouthed _it’s no problem_ back. 

“I suppose that since we have such little time left,” said Becky, trying to change the subject. “We could have elections for the new officer positions.”

“There are only two,” whispered Wilbur to Lex. “President and vice president. Emma is always the secretary and Charlotte is always the treasurer.”

Lex nodded. The bud of an idea was beginning to form in her head.

“So, I think we should have elections for vice president first,” said Becky, looking around as everyone nodded. “I’d like to run.”

“I’ll run too,” said Wilbur. Emma picked up a sheet of paper and tore it into six pieces. She gave a piece to everyone except Wilbur and Becky. “Everyone write down your vote on the ‘ballot.’” she said, rolling her eyes.

Lex decided to vote for Wilbur, though she did like Becky. If her plot went according to plan, then it would be good to have someone like Wilbur on her side. 

The ballots were placed in the center of the table. Only two people had voted for Becky. Linda slammed her hand on the table, making almost everyone flinch. “No! He was a disaster of a vice president!”

“I thought he did pretty decently,” Charlotte said very quietly.

“Me too,” seconded Becky.

Emma nodded.

“I mean, I thought I did alright. The people have spoken. I’m the vice president now.”

Linda sputtered. “Well! Fine, we’ll move onto presidential elections. I am running, anyone else?”

There was silence. Now or never, Lex thought. She raised her hand. “I’ll do it.”

Everyone slowly turned and looked at her with awestruck expressions. Half of them (Paul, Charlotte, and Becky) looked absolutely stunned, some of them (Wilbur, Xander, and Emma) looked absolutely delighted, and Linda looked absolutely livid. 

“She can’t run! She’s, what, sixteen?”

“Seventeen, actually,” corrected Lex. “Are there any rules that say I can’t?”

Linda stammered.

“No,” answered Becky finally, a smile growing on her face. “No rules like that. Go for it, Lex.”

“Well, we need to have speeches!” declared Linda desperately. “A true presidential candidate should be able to hold their own in a speech.”

“Fine, Linda. If it makes you happy, you’ll both give a speech!” said Wilbur, exasperated.

“I’ll go first. If I’m elected, I will make sure that we plan the best Halloween party, Christmas movie night, and spring dances of any year ever this year, alright? Also, I have way more experience in leading than a high schooler has. I’m obviously the best choice for president.” Linda sat down, looking smug. 

Lex stood up shakily and cleared her throat. She was so fucking scared of this. Then, an idea hit her. “Okay. Um, I can't promise any of what she said. I've never really been in charge of anything like this. But I can promise you all one thing. I’m never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down-”

Emma snorted.

“Never gonna run around, and desert you.”

Everyone was slowly starting to catch on. Emma was in hysterics, and Xander was grinning widely.

“I promise to never make you cry, never to say goodbye, and to never turn around and hurt you.”

Lex grinned as everyone else began laughing, everyone except Linda, who just looked confused.

“Vote for me, ladies and gentlemen!” she said, heading back to her seat. When she sat down, Wilbur gave her a high-five.

Everything died down and Paul said, sounding the happiest he had the whole meeting, “She’s got my vote!”

Everyone lost it again. Emma passed out the ballots, still laughing and everyone wrote a name down. 

The ballots were flipped and Linda shrieked. It was unanimous: Lex had won.

Linda looked furious, but didn’t say anything, just simmered with anger.

“Thank you!” said Lex. “Uh, I’ll see you all…When’s our next meeting?” she whispered.

“Next month, same day,” Xander whispered back.

“Next month! See everybody later!” Lex said, standing up and walking out. She heard a rustle in the meeting room as she walked out. 

As she left the school, the reality of what she’d done set in. She’d just joined a parental organization solely to rebel against a homophobic Karen, and she’d never felt better.

Ethan, Hannah, and Oliver were waiting for her. 

"How was she?"

"Well, she talked to Oliver about spiders, and he talked to her about ghosts, so I'd say they got along swimmingly." Ethan grinned at her. “Did you kick some suburban ass?”

“Yeah, I did,” grinned Lex. “I may or may not have gotten the job of president of the parent-teacher association.”

Ethan gaped at her in delight. “Okay, this I gotta hear. Tell me tomorrow at school, okay?”

“Okay!” said Lex. She felt like her face was going to split from smiling so widely. Kicking suburbanite ass and meeting a cute guy? She considered this day an absolute win!

“See you tomorrow?” 

“Of course!” Lex called, walking away with Hannah. Only when she was sure he was out of earshot did she allow herself to squeal.

“Good day, Lexie?”

“Yeah, Banana. _Very_ good day.” Lex said, hugging Hannah to her.


	3. Chapter 3

Lex made it through her classes slowly, grudgingly. She hated most of them. Oh, she knew they were important. That didn't stop her from hating them. Shop class, however, her last period, was the one class she was good with. The teacher, Mr. Houston, was friendly and didn't seem to take the subject too seriously. He was ex-military and had an "I don't care what you do, just don't burn the classroom down" vibe. After the lesson was over, Mr. Houston sat down at his desk. "Alright, everybody. You are free to talk for the next-" he checked his watch. "Thirty minutes! Don't kill each other, okay?"

Everyone replied and started conversations. Lex went to the back corner where Ethan was, spinning a pencil around his fingers. There was a focused frown on his face. When he saw her, however, he looked up and grinned.

"There you are! Ya gonna tell me how you got elected as president?"

Lex smiled and sat down. "It really wasn't that big of a deal." She recounted the story, sparing no details. Ethan was a great listener, reacting in all of the right places. However, when she got to Linda being homophobic, Ethan's face darkened. "Was the lady named Linda Monroe?"

"Yes! How'd you-"

"I was wearing pansexual and non-binary flags on my jacket once and she saw it and asked what it was. I told her, and she laughed and told me I was going through one of _those_ phases. I almost punched her. I was boiling mad."

"That sounds exactly like the Linda I met. Also, you go by they then?"

“Yeah, he and they are fine, but they is preferred. Sorry to interrupt. Continue.”

Lex did a dramatic reenactment of her running speech and Ethan loved it. 

“Linda screamed when the results came in. It was absolutely wonderful. I have never been that happy in my life, dude.”

Ethan looked proud. “Lex, you became the president of a school association out of sheer spite towards homophobia. You have my undying respect.”

"'Your undying respect'? You're gonna give your respect to me? That means a lot, coming from someone I've known for about two days."

Ethan laughed. "You're worth it."

There was a silence as what Ethan said set in with Lex. _Did they just-_

"Ignore that last part. I'm sorry. I have literally no filter sometimes, I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it," said Lex, hoping she sounded casual and not smitten. 

"Seriously though, props to you for standing up to Linda Monroe," Ethan said. 

Lex laughed. “Look, no one except maybe Wilbur or Emma was going to stand up to her. I had to do it.”

“Well, now what? You've gotten elected, you gotta live up to it."

Lex winced. "I didn't think that far. I'll do my best with whatever happens."

Ethan was frowning at her. "What is it? Do I have something on my face?"

"Well, you've got an eyelash right here, but that's not what I was looking at." Ethan reached up and brushed their thumb under her cheek, and her stomach started fluttering. _Goddammit, why them?_ She could have sworn there wasn't anything on their thumb, but Lex told herself she was just desperate. "I was just thinking about how we've known each other for two days and we haven't made small talk whatsoever."

"Is that bad?"

"No! Course not! It's just… interesting. This really hasn't happened to me before, making a friend without small talk."

"Well, let's start over," Lex said. She turned around in her seat, then back around. "Hello, I'm Lex Foster. I don't believe we've met?" she said, adopting Linda's posh voice and extending her hand. 

Ethan laughed so hard they almost fell out of their chair and Lex felt like her grin would split her face in two. "Well, let's start. What's your favorite movie?"

"Ratatouille," said Lex, not even having to think.

"That was fast," chuckled Ethan. "I don't think I've ever seen that."

"Well, at my house it's practically playing 24/7/365. It's actually not my favorite movie."

Ethan frowned. "Why?"

Lex paused. Ratatouille wasn't her favorite movie, but it was _Hannah's_ favorite movie. Whenever Mom was screaming or passed out, Hannah would always ask to watch "the cooking rats movie" and Lex would pull it up on her old laptop. She'd ripped it from 0123movies a while ago, and the picture quality wasn't the best, but neither of them cared. Since it was Hannah's favorite movie, it became hers too in a way. But that was way too emotional to spring on Ethan. So she stuck with a simplified version of the truth. "Well, it's my sister's favorite. I think my favorite is probably Ocean's 8. The new one."

Ethan grinned at her. "I love that movie."

"Right? It's like, a bunch of hot women doing crime and supporting each other. What's not to like?"

The "small talk" continued. Ethan's favorite movie was Into the Spiderverse, which Lex respected. Ethan's favorite color was black, and Lex's favorite was green (she could've sworn she saw them blush when she said so). Lex loved brownies and Ethan loved apple pie. They both loved rock music, classic and modern. And as Lex talked and laughed with Ethan, she realized that they were sweet and smart and a genuinely good person. And her crush grew tenfold. Why the fuck did the universe do this to her? There was no way a guy like this could like her back. Stubborn, brash, stupid her.

In the middle of her self-loathing thoughts, she heard the bell ring. The clamor of students getting their bags and heading for home filled the air. 

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow?" said Ethan. 

Lex shook her head, coming out of her head. "Yeah, of course! See you tomorrow!"

Ethan gave her a small smile. "See you." They picked up their bag and walked out of the classroom.

Lex grinned to herself. She was ready to get home and recount her entire conversation with Ethan to Hannah. However, as she was walking out, Mr. Houston stopped her.

"Hey, Lex. Did you, by any chance, meet my wife Becky yesterday?"

Lex frowned. "I met a Becky. Becky Barnes."

"That's my wife. She asked me if I knew a Lex Foster. Said that the kid got herself elected PTA president. Becky told me to tell you that she's proud of you."

Lex smiled. "I didn't know she was your wife! Tell her she's very nice and I'm very excited for the next meeting."

As Lex walked out, Mr. Houston called after her, "Hey, Lex?"

She turned around and saw him smirking. "Good on you for kicking Linda's ass. She deserves it."

Lex smirked back. "That's why I can't wait for the next meeting. See ya tomorrow, Mr. Houston!"

She heard him chuckle as the classroom door closed. Lex strolled away, happier than she'd been in a while. 

As Hannah would say, it had been a good day.


	4. Chapter 4

The next month passed quickly. Lex struggled through all of her classes, but she had Ethan to talk to in shop class, which was the only class she had an A in. Lex's mom hadn't yelled at her and Hannah, just got home and passed out, which was better. So far, September was going great.

Then the second PTA meeting happened.

Ethan offered to take Hannah to their uncle's house so that they didn't have to wait outside for Lex. She actually got to the meeting early. Only Emma and Wilbur were in there. Emma looked up, grinned, and gave Lex a fist bump. "Hello, Madame President."

"Hello, Honored Secretary," Lex replied, giving her finger guns. They laughed and Lex went over to Wilbur. "Hi, Trusty Sidekick."

"Lex, pretty sure that's not a title. But I'll take it." Wilbur handed her some papers.

Lex took them, confused. "What are these?"

"Some notes for you. The stuff we'll go over in the meeting. I wrote it down for you because I figured you'd never done this kind of thing before. I'll do them for the first few meetings, then you need to write them yourself, deal?"

"Deal."

Everyone else slowly trickled in. Paul wasn't here today, instead Bill Lake, the guy Paul had been filling in for had shown up. He seemed very nice, a lot like Becky. Linda was the last person to arrive. She looked furious, and seeing Lex at the head of the conference table only made her eyes narrow even more. 

Lex cheerfully stood up once everyone had arrived. Bill looked confused, but Xander leaned over and whispered to him. He nodded seriously and looked at her with a smile. The notes went smoothly for the first part. There were a few new things, like a bit of brainstorming on themes for the Halloween party, but mostly it was information on how the meetings would run and all. It was going well.

"So, there's one big thing coming up. Apparently, we need to plan a fundraiser for the auditorium?" Lex looked up in confusion. "Why do we need to do that? When I went to the auditorium during the open house, it looked beautiful."

No one said anything, but everyone was giving Linda looks out of the corners of their eyes.

Wilbur, smirking, finally broke the silence. "Linda? Would you care to tell our president why we're having another fundraiser for the auditorium?"

Linda, eyes glued to the table, hissed through gritted teeth, "Some idiot kids went in and smashed all of the spotlights. We need to raise money to get them replaced."

"Who the fuck would do that? It's the fourth week of school!"

There was a long, painful silence. Then it hit Lex. _Linda's kids?_

"Anyways, uhhhhh. Any ideas for potential fundraisers?"

Charlotte raised her hand. "How about a bake sale?"

"Charlotte, I love that idea. Anyone else?"

"I really am on board with the bake sale idea," said Xander.

"Me too."

"Me three."

"Okay, bake sale it is!" said Lex cheerfully. She looked around at the table. Everyone was all smiles, except Linda, who was glowering. "We can make flyers and pass them around."

"I'll do it," said Bill quickly.

"Great! Thanks Bill! Uh, I think that's it," Lex muttered to herself, looking over the notes. "That's it! See you all next week!"

Everyone trickled out, talking to each other about what they were gonna bake. It was a beautiful day. Sunny, with a slight wind and only a few clouds.

Emma waved goodbye and headed for her car. Lex texted Ethan that she was done and got a text back almost immediately. _On my way. Traffic's not bad, so I should be there in about five minutes._

She smiled, almost giddy. Lex really liked them. She was so distracted she didn't notice the presence at her elbow. She heard a loud "ahem" and knew immediately who it was. But she wasn't gonna give Linda the satisfaction.

"God?" she said, looking everywhere but down. Then she did, acting surprised. "Oh, it's you Linda."

Linda was glowering. "Listen to me, you little tramp. I don't know what you're playing at, but it's not gonna work, okay?"

Lex felt confused. "Linda, what are you talking about?"

"Alexandra Foster, I know more about you than you realize. I know your mother's history. I know your history. I know your sister's history."

"You don't know a fucking thing about me, Linda," Lex growled. "I could punch you right now."

"And how do you think that would work? I'm a pillar of the community, missy. I could send you to juvie for assault so fast. You don't have any idea how much power I hold in this godforsaken town."

Lex was silent, heart racing.

"So let me tell you what I know. Your mother has been arrested for three DUIs in the state of Michigan alone. You have gone to juvie for stealing frozen pizzas from a Family Dollar. Your sister has been diagnosed with autism and severe anxiety. Did I get all of that right?"

"Linda," started Lex, voice shaky. "What do you gain from knowing this? What are you threatening me over? Is this because you couldn't get the presidential position?"

Linda didn't answer her last question, but she continued talking, tone now sickly sweet. "Alexandra, I do hope you're able to make this bakesale work, as the new president. I expect to see you bringing _something_ to sell." Her tone held an _or else_ tone.

"Or what? What are you threatening me with?" Lex was trying to sound confident, but the tremor in her voice ruined it. Her hands were shaking. Why were her hands shaking?

"Oh, well. It would be _such_ a shame if the cops found out about this whole thing, wouldn't it? Your mother off to jail, you and your sister in the foster system."

Lex's heart stopped.

"Doubt that even when you become of legal age you could adopt her, with your record. And I doubt anyone would adopt her, what with her… issues." Linda sighed, seemingly dismayed, but the smug grin ruined it. "Isn't that sad? Your sister, in the system. Until she becomes 18, but of course, who knows where she'll be by then? If she'll be able to find you?"

Lex felt dizzy and sick to her stomach. She prayed that if she did get sick, that she'd barf on Linda's five hundred dollar shoes.

She faintly heard a car pull up over the ringing in her ears. Then, a familiar, friendly voice rang out. "Lex!"

 _Thank God_. It was Ethan. She looked up and smiled weakly. 

"It's so wonderful to see you again, Karen!" called Ethan, waving cheerfully.

"My name is Linda, Ethan." Linda said, the smirk vanishing.

"My mistake, Helen. Come on Lex, let's go!"

Lex walked to the car and quickly got in, staring at the dashboard.

As they pulled onto the highway, Ethan looked over at Lex, who was still staring down. 

"Lex, are you alright?"

Lex mumbled inaudibly.

"Lex, that didn't sound alright to me. What happened?"

"Leave me alone."

"Lex-"

"Leave me alone! God! Shut up! I don't wanna talk right now!"

Ethan went silent. Lex was breathing way too fast. Her hands were shaking- WHY THE FUCK WERE HER HANDS SHAKING AGAIN-and she kept her eyes ahead on the road.

Ethan didn't say anything for the rest of the car ride. When they got up to gigantic iron gates surrounding an equally gigantic house, they leaned out the window and spoke quietly into the intercom.

Grief, fury, and every emotion imaginable were crowding in her chest. She couldn't breathe.

The car stopped. Lex screamed. Screamed so loudly and for so long she felt her voice die. Ethan didn't react, just sat there. She almost wanted them to react. Then, her scream just became sobs, shuddering, hard-to-breathe sobs. Lex felt humiliated that Ethan was there. No one, not even Hannah, ever saw her cry like this. She cried after Hannah had gone to bed, when she could feel sorry for herself.

Finally, her sobs evened out. She felt something on her shoulder and turned to see Ethan. They had their hand on her shoulder and looked at her with this face of understanding and kindness and she couldn't deal with the niceness of this kid. It just made her cry even more. 

They sat out there for a while. Lex had never felt less alone in her entire life. 

When she finally stopped crying, she took the tissue Ethan offered her and got out of the car, wiping her eyes. She didn't want Hannah to know she'd been like this.

She walked around the side of the car and hugged Ethan. They stiffened up, but relaxed slowly and hugged back.

They walked to the front door silently and Ethan rang the doorbell.

"I'm sorry," Lex said suddenly.

Ethan looked at her sadly and hugged her again. "I'm sorry too."

The door opened a tiny crack. "Who is it?" snapped a voice from inside.

Ethan rolled their eyes. "Uncle Henry, it's me. Ethan. I literally just rang the intercom."

"Ethan! I'll let you in."

The door opened and a man appeared. He had silvery hair, and his facial features bore a strong resemblance to Ethan's. He looked at Ethan with kind blue eyes. Then, they took on a crazed expression. "Who the hell is that!" he exclaimed, pointing at Lex, who awkwardly put her hands up.

"Uncle Henry, this is Lex. Remember? You're watching her sister, Hannah?"

"Hannah…" the man screwed up his face. "Ah, yes. Apologies, Lex. It's a pleasure to meet you. I’m Henry Hidgens. You can call me Hidgens. Ethan’s told me all about you.”

“Uncle Henry!” Ethan hissed, flushing red.

Henry smiled at him and continued. “Anyways, your sister is inside.”

They walked through the house. “What have you said about me?” Lex said, punching Ethan in the arm. 

“All good things, don’t worry,” Hidgens said cheerfully. “Mostly about your eyes, which I agree, they are quite nice.”

Ethan made a noise that sounded like they were being strangled. “Uncle Henry, this is slander. I could sue you over this.”

“Who’s gonna be your lawyer, kid?” Hidgens said sarcastically over his shoulder

Ethan chuckled nervously and turned to Lex. “I am so sorry-”

“Don’t be. It’s sweet of you to say that.” Lex hoped he couldn’t tell she was about to start giggling like a maniac. She was so gone.

Ethan smiled, wide and nervous. “Cool! Cool, cool, cool.”

Lex couldn’t see Hidgens, but she was certain he was smiling. They reached what Lex guessed to be the living room, where Hannah and Oliver were watching a movie Lex didn’t recognize, but Ethan did.

“Uncle Henry, why are you making the kids watch Hello, Dolly again?”

Hidgens held up his hands in defense. “Oliver wanted to watch it! I wasn’t going to discourage him! It’s a musical classic!”

“I did, Ethan. I wanted Hannah to see it,” Oliver said excitedly. Hannah seemed to be enjoying it, eyes glued to the dance number happening on the screen.

"Hey, Banana! Good day?" Lex said, hoping any trace of crying was gone from her voice.

"Good day. Can we stay here?" Hannah asked.

Lex laughed awkwardly. "We gotta go home, Hannah. We can't stay here."

"Webby says home isn't safe."

Hidgens looked at her. "My dears, if you need a place to stay, you are welcome here for the time being. Ethan's staying here for a while too."

Lex didn't know what to say. Why were people in this town so _nice_?

"I do not want to cause anyone any trouble-"

"Nonsense! My dear, have you seen this house? I have room for practically everyone in this town."

Lex laughed slightly, but the wheels in her head were turning. The offer was tempting. A safe place to stay, no fear of Hannah getting hurt, and Ethan being there were all things that she wanted. 

"We've gotta go home for a bit, to let our mom know where we are and get some clothes together, but I'll take you up on that offer."

A smile broke out over Hidgens's face, but Lex could see some relief mixed into it. "Good! It'll be good to have some other people in the house for once."

"I can drive you, but we've gotta drop Oliver off before. Come on, Ollie, we're getting you home."

Oliver reluctantly stood. "Okay. Bye Uncle Henry!"

"Goodbye, Oliver!"

They got in the car and were able to quickly drop Oliver off. He waved as he ran inside the house. 

"So, to the Foster's house!" Ethan declared as they drove away.

"Well, it's really more of a trailer," Lex joked, relaxing into her seat.

Ethan shot her another look but continued driving without any more remarks except to occasionally ask for directions.

They pulled up to the front of a trailer that looked like it was this close to falling over and parked. 

"Ethan, can I talk to you outside the car for like ten seconds?"

"Yeah, of course!"

The second Lex walked around, the words came pouring out. "Okay, look. My mom isn't good, okay. But I turn eighteen in December, which is only a few months away, which means I can get out of this place legally and take Hannah too. If anything gets reported, Hannah's gonna get stuck in the system. I can't adopt her because I went to juvie. Is this all making sense?"

Ethan nodded slowly. 

"Great. I'm going inside and getting our clothes. Do not go inside the trailer, okay? I will be fine."

Ethan nodded and she turned to go.

"Wait." A hand on her arm stopped her. "Be careful, okay?"

Lex smiled. "Always am."


	5. Chapter 5

Lex creeped into the house, knowing exactly where to step on the floorboards. She didn’t know whether her mom was awake or asleep, but she was not risking it. Lex made it to her and Hannah’s room and grabbed the emergency suitcases she had packed. She stuffed Hannah’s stuffed spider and her laptop inside and heard footsteps, heavy and slow. Lex stood up, trying to remain calm, though her heart was racing a million miles an hour. How was she going to appease her mom? Then she remembered. She reached in the back off the closet and found a few old bags of weed. Hopefully it would be enough to distract her mom. She put the bags in her pocket and walked out of the room. As she walked out into the living room, she allowed herself to entertain the thought that there had been no one in the house and she’d just been hearing things.

Of course, she wasn't that lucky.

“Where do you think you’re going, Lex?” Lex heard a voice behind her.

 _Mom_. She turned around, forcing a smile. Her mom didn’t look good; she was definitely high as a kite, with red eyes and the consistent swaying.

“Someone offered to let me and Hannah spend the night for a bit! I'm sure that makes you happy that we’ll be out of the house for a bit, huh?”

A voice came from behind her mom. “Carly, who’s that you're talking to?” A guy appeared. He was around the same age as her mom and was also high, but less so. He didn’t wobble, and unlike her mom, looked directly at Lex. “Hey. I’m Derek. Who are you?”

“She’s nobody-”

“I’m Lex Foster. Carly’s kid.”

He looked at her with concern, turning to Lex’s mom. “Maybe I should come back later, Carly. If your kid’s here, then maybe we shouldn’t be-”

“Where’s my stash, you little brat?” her mom hissed.

“Here, mom. I’ve got some bags somewhere in my pocket, gimme a second."

Derek looked at her mom with dazed shock. "Why does a kid have your stash, Carly?"

"Doesn't matter. Give me it, Lex."

Lex handed the bags over and turned to Derek. "If you're gonna fuck her, I wouldn't recommend it. She really kind of sucks."

"Shut the fuck up, you little brat!" Her mom grabbed her by the arm. Hard.

"Mom, get off of me!" Lex yelled, struggling against her mom's iron grip. She was really regretting not calling Ethan in for backup. Suddenly, her mom's grip loosened and she was able to pull her arm away. Derek had pulled her mom away. "Carly, leave the kid alone! Get out of here, I'll calm her down."

"Thanks, dude," Lex grabbed her suitcases and ran, heart pounding. She figured the guy would forget all about it later, but it was a nice gesture nonetheless.

She got in the car, panting for breath. Ethan looked over at her. "I'm guessing it didn't go well?"

Lex shook her head. She looked back, seeing Hannah pull the spider out of the suitcase and hug it, which brought a smile to her face.

"Lex, your hands are shaking." Ethan said, concerned.

"Huh?" She looked down. She hadn’t even noticed this time. That probably wasn’t a good sign. "Oh, yeah. That happens sometimes. It goes away eventually."

"I think I know how to fix that."

"How?"

Quick as a flash, Ethan took their right hand off the steering wheel and grabbed Lex's left hand. Lex almost shrieked. She still wasn't sure that they had done that. But there Ethan was, eyes locked on the road, blushing and holding her hand. Hannah was grinning at them in the rearview mirror.

They drove in silence, and strangely, Lex’s hand was stiller than it had been before Ethan took it. She had forgotten how nice it was to hold hands with someone. 

Ethan started to let go, but she squeezed their hand tightly. “Do not let go of my hand, please.”

“Alright.”

They finally reached the house and Lex allowed Ethan to let go of her hand. 

They all walked inside the house. "Is that… music?"

"Yep. There goes my uncle again. Uncle Henry!" they yelled. "We're back! Might wanna turn down the showtunes!"

The music volume did not decrease. "Is that… Mamma Mia?"

"Probably. He's in the kitchen. Come on, let's go embarrass him."

They all crept to the kitchen and saw Hidgens belting his heart out and dancing around the kitchen like a madman.

Lex couldn't help it. She cracked up. Thankfully, Ethan did too and Hannah soon followed. 

Hidgens turned around fast and tried to be smooth. "Alexa, stop!"

"I'm so sorry, Uncle. It's just-" Ethan broke out into another fit of laughter. " _Mamma Mia_?"

"Mamma Mia is a CLASSIC, young lad."

That just made Lex laugh even harder. Ethan and her were clutching each other, tears rolling down their faces.

Hidgens just smiled. "Ethan, instead of laughing at me, would you please be a good host and show the Fosters to their rooms?"

Ethan, still laughing, showed Lex and Hannah to the rooms. They were connected, which was sweet of Hidgens to arrange, and had a twin bed and a dresser. It was one of the nicest rooms she'd stayed in. Lex opened her suitcase and unpacked the few clothes she had.

She heard a knock on the door. "Lex, can I come in?"

"Sure."

Ethan opened the door and sat down on the bed beside her. "What happened this afternoon? Are you okay after… everything?"

"What, the breakdown in your car or the confrontation with my mom?" Lex asked, trying to play it off as a joke. Ethan wasn't fooled.

"Preferably both?"

"My mom just was high, like always."

Ethan frowned, looked down at her arm, and gasped. "Lex, your arm!"

"Huh?" She looked where he was looking and winced. The place where her mom had grabbed her was bruising badly, forming a clear hand print. "Oh, shit."

"Lex, we really need to put some ice on that or it's gonna get worse."

"Here, I'll go get some then-"

"No, it's fine. You stay here and take a second. I'll get it." They stood up and began to walk out of the room. 

"Ethan?"

They turned around. "Yeah?"

"Thank you. For everything." Lex wished she could say more, tell them everything _. I think you're beautiful and kind and smart and I'm sorta kinda in love with you and really wanna kiss you._ But Lex was a coward, so she didn't.

Ethan smiled at her. "You deserve it." Then they left.

(If anyone asked, Lex wholeheartedly denied screaming into her pillow the second they left)


	6. Chapter 6

The first few days at Hidgens' house took some getting used to. For one thing, the house was absolutely enormous. Lex almost got lost walking from her bedroom to the kitchen in the mornings. Hannah spent an entire afternoon wandering around the house and got lost three times. Hidgens eventually had to go and look for her. It was also very strange not feeling on edge consistently. Lex wasn't worried about Hannah's safety and felt less tense. She knew it wasn't going to last and that they'd have to go back to the trailer eventually, but it was nice to know they had a safe place to go if they needed to.

Slowly but surely, they got adjusted. And for Lex, being in the same house as Ethan was… great. Nerve wracking, but great. She figured Ethan liked her. They had to, right? Unless they had done it all (holding her hand in the car, saying she was worth all the trouble, saying she deserved everything they'd done) platonically… no. That was an idea she didn't want to consider. However, it was hovering in the back of her mind constantly. But in being in the same house as Ethan, she learned things about them.

He was so sweet and so kind with Hannah. Hannah loved to talk about spiders, and unlike most people, Ethan listened to her. She eagerly talked about the differences between black widow and brown recluse venom at dinner, and they didn't act grossed out. But the moment everything started going right for her was on Friday night, a few days after they first got there.

She and Ethan were in the living room opposite each other on the couch. She was working on math homework and they were reading a book. Hannah had walked in and started watching them curiously, eventually going and sitting by Ethan.

“Ethan, what are you reading?” she eventually asked after a long silence. 

Ethan turned to her and held up their book. “Um, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It’s for my English class.”

She nodded. Lex knew what she wanted, but also knew Hannah was too shy to ask.

“She wants you to read it to her, Ethan.”

They looked up in surprise. “Sure, Banana. Should I start from the beginning?”

Hannah thought for a second, then shook her head. “Just start the story you’re on.”

They nodded seriously and turned back a few pages. “Alright. ‘In glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have during the last eight years…’”

As Ethan read, Lex eventually finished her work and listened to them read. Ethan was a good storyteller, adopting different voices for each character. They did stumble over some words, but ultimately read the whole story through. By the time they had finished, Hannah had fallen asleep on their shoulder. They grinned at Lex, covered Hannah with a blanket, and went to the next story. When they were finally finished with the book, they picked up Hannah and carried her all the way to her room.

Lex felt her heart melt a little bit more for them that night.

The next morning, she got up and made herself some toast, the only thing she was confident she could cook on her own without burning the house down. She sat down and started pulling up baking recipes on her laptop. Lex groaned. All of them looked complicated. Ethan came in through the door as Lex slammed her head on the table.

"Please don't damage your brain. You know we share brain cells, and I don't want mine to be damaged."

"Ha ha," Lex said, muffled by her arms. "I need to bake something for the upcoming bake sale fundraiser and I can't cook for shit."

She felt a tap on the back of her neck and lifted her head slightly. Ethan was standing to her side, looking determined. "I'll help!" they said cheerfully. "I love baking, but I never get a chance to do it. What do you wanna make?"

"I dunno dude… something that won't result in me ruining the kitchen?"

"I have some cookbooks somewhere in that disaster of a kitchen!" Hidgens called from the other side of the room

"Thanks Uncle Henry! You wanna look in the cookbooks?" Ethan asked Lex.

Lex smiled. She was gonna kick Linda's ass. "Let's go."

"I've got it," Ethan said, after about five minutes of poring over the cookbooks. "Creme brulee."

"Ethan, no."

"What? Why not?!"

"We're trying NOT to burn the house down here!"

After some grumbling, Ethan agreed. There were a few more minutes of silence, until Lex found it.

"Ethan, look. Cookie. Brownies."

They looked over at the recipe picture. "God, those look good."

"We're making those."

"Obviously."

They got into another argument as they were getting ingredients out.

"Lex, we do not need to bake the brownies and cookie batter from scratch!"

"I'M TRYING TO KICK LINDA'S ASS HERE, ETHAN. A BIT OF SUPPORT WOULD BE APPRECIATED."

"Lex, you know I'm all for kicking Linda's ass, but we need to be reasonable."

"FUCK REASON."

Finally, the two bakers reached a compromise. They'd make the brownies using a box, but make the cookie dough from scratch. Lex started to quickly mix the vegetable oil and water together as Ethan blended the cookie ingredients together.

There was a peaceful silence. Lex couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this relaxed. 

That was, until she felt something hit her in the back of her neck.

"Ethan?" she said, turning around slowly.

"Yes, my dear Lex?" Ethan was clearly trying to sound casual, but was failing miserably.

"Did you just chuck cookie dough at me?"

There was a long pause. "Noooooo."

"First of all, my dear, never pursue an acting career. Secondly, if you didn't, then why are there chocolate chips in my hair?"

Ethan stared at her with an expression she couldn't place. "Did you just call me 'my dear?'"

Lex flushed. Had she? She hadn't even realized it _. Quick, change the subject_. "Don't shift the focus here, Ethan!" Lex said, waving the spoon covered in brownie batter at them. "You hit me with cookie dough!"

"Lex, if you hit me with that spoon, I swear to god, I'm taking the kids."

"Ethan, we don't have kids."

"Irrelevant. Don't do it."

So Lex decided not to. 

"Lex, did you just flick brownie batter on me?"

"Yep,"

"Lex, I swear to God-"

Lex did it again.

"Lex-" Ethan sighed. "Okay, you asked for it." They picked up a piece of cookie dough and hit her in the forehead with it.

"Oh, I'm gonna gut your ass in a second!" Lex and Ethan chased each other around the kitchen, laughing harder than they had in a while. 

"Kids!" yelled Hidgens from the living room. "I appreciate the free entertainment, but please remember that you have the oven on!"

"Oh shit!" Ethan said. "Come on, Lex, we've gotta put this shit in the oven."

"And watch your language! Good God!"

"Uncle Henry, you say worse words than shit all the time!"

"Yes, but I have good reasons!"

"No, he doesn't," Ethan mumbled to Lex, who snorted.

"I heard that!"

They decided that the batch of cookie brownies were going to be eaten that night and they'd bake another batch when the bake sale got closer.

Dinner that night was fun, relaxed. Lex threw food at Ethan twice. Hannah talked about becoming a detective like Sherlock Holmes. It was a good night. Then, Lex got one of her brilliant ideas.

"Hey," said Lex as they cleared the table. "Remember how you said you've never seen Ratatouille? Hannah's favorite movie?"

"Yep. Why?" Ethan said, picking up a stack of plates.

Now or never. "Well, maybe we could watch it tonight."

They looked at her, seemingly confused. "Really?"

The words came rushing out. "You don't have to if you don't want to, but I just figured that it could be fun and-"

"Hey, Lexie! It wasn't a no, I'd love to." Ethan grinned at her, and she felt her knees go weak. Just a bit.

"I'll make the popcorn!" said Hannah, running to the pantry immediately. 

Lex and Ethan just stood there grinning at each other, until Hidgens cleared his throat. They both flinched and found him right next to them. "Back to Earth, are we? Just wanted to tell you that I'm going to be in my study grading quizzes if you need me."

"Okay, Uncle Henry."

"You kids have fun. And Ethan…" Hidgens leaned over and whispered something to Ethan that made their face turn bright red. 

"Uncle, please don't ever say anything like that ever again."

Hidgens cackled and left for his study. 

"What did he say to you?" Lex asked, curious. If it was bad enough to make Ethan blush, she wanted to hear it. 

Ethan's face went even redder. "Nothing. Let's go watch the rat movie!"

"Ratatouille!" Hannah corrected.

"Ratatouille! Let's go!" Ethan declared, walking to the den.

Lex shook her head and followed.

They were barely ten minutes into the movie, and Hannah was asleep, Ethan was asking too many stupid questions, and Lex was going to kill them.

After the fifth question, Lex had had it. She turned to them, dead serious. "Ethan, if you do not stop asking stupid hypothetical questions on purpose, I will kick you in the face. Shut up and enjoy the movie."

Ethan did shut up after that. They seemed to enjoy the movie.

At some point around the thirty minute mark, Ethan had moved closer to Lex and put their arm around her. It felt nice. So around the thirty-five minute mark, she gathered up the courage to lay her head on their shoulder. That was even better. 

The two of them stayed like that for a while. Then, Lex's favorite scene _finally_ came on. Okay, it was her favorite scene solely because of the song. 

"Hey, Lexie?" Ethan said gently. "You're kinda singing along to the song."

"I am? I didn't realize, I'm so-"

"Don't apologize, Lex. You have a pretty voice."

Lex's treacherous fucking heart fluttered. "Really?"

"Yeah. You're pretty. Shit."

Lex could feel herself blushing. "You think I'm pretty?"

"Yes. SHIT! Well, I was trying to say your voice was pretty, but I had a Freudian slip. Just forget I said anything, okay? I know you probably don't feel the same and that's-"

"I think you're pretty too." 

The (true) words rushed out before Lex could stop them.

Ethan turned to her, a gigantic grin breaking out across their face. "So- You-"

"Yeah, Ethan. I like you. I've liked you practically since the first time we met. You're kind and patient and I care about you so much."

Ethan grinned at her. " Lex, I was going to say the exact same thing about you."

Lex laughed nervously. She could feel her heart beating. "So-"

"Well-" Ethan started at the same time. They giggled awkwardly and looked at each other nervously.

 _Fuck it_ , Lex thought. She leaned in and kissed them. Quick, without a lot of coordination. It was still nice.

"I better not have misread that," said Lex as she pulled away.

Ethan still had that grin on their face. "You definitely did not."

The two of them didn't pay much attention to the movie after that.

(Hidgens came in about two hours later, saw Lex and Ethan asleep and curled into each other, and smiled to himself. He carried Hannah to bed and covered the sleeping teens with a blanket.)


	7. Chapter 7

"There you are, Janice!" Ethan said cheerfully as Lex put the cookie brownies on Linda's bake sale table.

Linda glowered at them. "My name's Linda."

"Well, until you can respect Oliver's pronouns and mine, I'm not giving you that decency, Kelly. I'll see you after the meet, Lex." Ethan kissed her on the cheek and left. Lex touched her cheek and grinned, dazed. They had been dating for a week, and she still wasn't used to them kissing her.

"Your boyfriend is so disrespectful," Linda hissed, snapping her out of her daze. 

"My _partner_ shows respect to the people that deserve it, Linda. If you can't respect their cousin's pronouns or Ethan's, then you don't deserve their or my respect." Lex snapped back, unwrapping the tinfoil off of the plate of cookie brownies.

Linda spluttered and was about to respond, but right then, thankfully, Paul decided to make an appearance. 

“I brought rice krispies treats!” he said, grinning broadly, and Lex grinned back, thankful to see a friendly face. 

Linda huffed and stormed off, and Paul’s face fell slightly. He held up the paper plate. “They have M&M’s in them…” 

“It’s not you, Paul. Linda’s being a bitch.”

Paul nodded sagely. “I hate her.”

Lex laughed. “Same here,” She pulled out the card that Ethan had made for their treats. After consulting websites, they’d decided to price each brownie at two dollars. She set it in front of the plate and started to unwrap the rice krispies treats.

Paul looked at the cookie brownies card. “Hey, Lex?”

“Yes, Paul?”

“Um, I don’t know if you knew this or not, but is the card _supposed_ to say ‘slutty brownies?’”

“What?!” Paul wordlessly gave her the card, a smile fighting the corners of his mouth. It did. It fucking said slutty brownies.

Lex lost it. She was doubled over laughing. She fucking _told them_ to not write slutty brownies. Paul was looking at her, concerned, but fighting laughter. She was able to choke out, "My stupid partner." and went right back to laughing. Paul finally started laughing alongside her.

When Linda showed up again with Becky and Emma, she found Paul and Lex sobbing with laughter. 

Paul wiped the tears away from his eyes and straightened up. “Hi, Emma, hi Becky.” Lex was still losing her mind and was incapable of any coherent language.

Emma looked at them and smiled, confused. “What’s so funny?” 

Paul started giggling again and handed her the card. Emma looked at it and snorted. “Probably want to change that, Lex.” 

Lex nodded, still laughing, and flipped the card over to write cookie brownies. 

"We brought cookies!" Becky said cheerfully, holding up a plate of Lofthouse cookies. 

Emma smiled and shook her head. "You brought the cookies, Becky. You're the one who bought them."

"Well, you told me which ones to buy-"

"You bought the cookies?" Linda was back on her bullshit of saying every judgemental thing she could think of.

Becky slowly turned and looked at Linda. "Yes, I did. That's a problem?"

Linda must have seen Emma and Lex glaring at her, because she immediately backtracked. “No! No problem at all!”

“Good,” Lex grumbled under her breath. 

Thankfully, at that moment, more parents started to pull up to the outdoor track and any conversation was stopped.

The bake sale was going fairly well, all things considered. Lots of people had brought things to sell and all homemade things listed what potential allergic ingredients were in it.

Pretty much everything got sold. There were still a few rice krispies treats left, but Paul shrugged and bought them himself. "Alice likes them." he said. Lex swore she could see Emma smiling down at the table and flushing. She decided not to mention it. Other than the rice krispies treats and a few bland homemade fig bars, everything was bought. They made well past their original goal.

Lex was beginning to clean up with the help of Paul, Becky, and Emma when Linda walked over to them.

"Wonderful job! Um, Becky, dear, could I talk to you for a bit?"

Becky looked confused, but nodded. "Be right there."

Emma was glaring at Linda suspiciously, and Becky noticed. "Emma, dear, I'll be fine."

Emma nodded, still glaring at Linda. "I can and will fight a bitch."

"Yes, dear. I know."

Becky left with Linda, and the second they were out of earshot, Lex asked Emma, "What do you think is gonna happen?"

Emma shrugged. "Linda's gonna yell at Becky for bringing store bought cookies, that's what's gonna happen." she said, throwing the fig bars in the trash.

"Why?" Paul was curious, too.

"Because she's an asshole who hated Becky in high school." Emma replied. "Even though, y'know, Becky is the sweetest person ever. I hated her in high school too, but I grew up and moved on." In response to Lex's shocked face, she explained, "I was kind of a stoner in high school. Becky was one of those preps I hated. I hated everyone, but mostly the preps. But again, I grew up. Linda couldn't."

Lex shook her head in disgust. "I'm following them."

"Lex, I don't think-" Paul started, but Lex was already running after Linda and Becky. She had to hear this.

"The cookies were awful, Becky." Lex could hear Linda say as she slowly crept up behind the two. 

"Linda, why do you always do this?" Becky sounded _broken_. It hurt Lex's heart.

"Because you never try and I'm sick and tired of it!"

God. Lex was _this_ fucking close to walking out there and punching Linda in the face, juvie be damned.

Then, Lex heard Becky's voice, a tone she'd never, ever heard and never expected to hear, least of all from _Becky fucking Barnes_. It almost made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. 

" _Linda_. You know better than anyone that my husband hit me and emotionally abused me."

"Well-"

"You know better than anyone that he ran off."

"I-"

"So you should know that I have depressive episodes where I can't get out of bed."

Linda was silent. Becky continued, in the same chillingly calm tone. "I had one of those episodes this morning, Linda. I could barely move, let alone bake."

"I'm just saying-"

"Saying what, Linda? That I'm _lazy_? Isn't that your favorite thing to call me? Well, guess what? I'm not going to sit down and take it anymore. Fuck you, Linda Monroe. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on."

Lex couldn't help it. She started laughing, shocked and proud. Becky and Linda turned around and saw her.

Linda was still looking shocked. Becky was flushed but looked proud. With her red hair loose and flowing and eyes still flashing slightly, Lex thought she looked like a warrior.

Or maybe that was the bisexuality talking. Who really knew?

"Sorry. Not laughing at either of you. I just never thought I'd hear you curse, Becky."

Becky shook her head, smiling. "First time for everything, I guess. I try not to."

Linda just was just kind of standing there, face blank. 

"I think I've said my piece. Goodbye, Linda. I'll see you Monday." Becky and Lex started to walk back in silence.

"Hey, Becky. For what it's worth, that was the best thing I've ever seen."

"Don't say something like that. I shouldn't have said it." 

Becky said seriously, but when Lex looked over at her, Becky was smiling proudly.

They got back to the table, where Ethan and Tom were waiting for them. "You should tell Mr. Houston about what you said." 

Becky looked at her, fake-scandalized. "Alexandra, that would tarnish my reputation beyond belief!" she declared in a horribly fake southern accent. 

Lex burst out laughing. She liked this version of Becky. 

"Tell me what, Lex?" Mr. Houston said, smiling at the two of them.

Becky shook her head, smiling. Lex chimed in. "She fucking came for Linda's ass."

"Lex!"

Mr. Houston laughed and he and Becky started to walk away. Lex and Ethan waved to them and when they waved back, began their own trek to Ethan's car.

"So, what happened tonight?" Ethan asked, intertwining their fingers with Lex's.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me." Lex said, resting her head on Ethan's shoulder. "It was fantastic."


End file.
